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Grassland gardens are Aster-nomical

When your poor dismal garden in October is as it was in July – and is as it was in April and in January – it hasn’t changed much through the year and you’ve worked hard to keep it that way – you probably need to brighten up your life with some asters and grasses.

When the first October breezy cool-snap cool front interrupts our absurdly long southern summer, it happens to coincide with the most magical time in the grassland landscape, the climactic crescendo of fall. The idea of establishing native grass gardens that have lots of wildflower species can be highly entertaining and enlightening. If you’re designing a garden for year round enjoyment you use multiple species and lots of seed grown native grasses and grass-like plants.

Grow wetland meadows and upland meadows and surround them and bisect them with fine textured lawn paths and open spaces of lawn and other for human circulation and enlightening enjoyment, outdoor entertainment. Composites flowers attract uncommon insects – and humans.

Asters make it fun! Roughleaf Goldenrod and Bluestem grass, Swamp Sunflower and Guara, all from seed, on exhibit at the Oswalt Nature Trail in Wesson, Mississippi, October 10, 2018.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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Cajun prairie Restoration site focus

“The goals of this garden include not only representing a historical view of the prairie but also creating habitat for birds, butterflies and bees. I would like it to be a grassland in which you can view it across the site from one corner to another no matter what direction–a sea of grass intermixed with a variety…of wildflowers.”

one of a fading few new first-year-flowering aster Liatris squarrulosas I found at the Park in the breezy cool fall weather.

on the left, above, in the bio-basin is a large colony of Horned Beaksedge, Rhynchospora corniculata. A midslope area of Bog species and a dry slope to the right (west) side of the bio-basin that has been planted with seed that my partner Jim McGee and I harvested from rolling hills of the botanically rich areas at The Sandy Hollow Wildlife Management Area State Park in November of 2016. http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/wma/2764

the whiteness of Aster divaricum or pilosum (above, and below) millions of Aster flowers.

Coreopsis linifolia, with grassyness below

silverfoliaged Golden Aster, Chrysopsis

There are many yearling non-aster Lobelia puberula in the biobasin and possibly brevifolia and, above, the blue corolla Lobelia floridanum.

had fun with growing seed Dr Allen gave me of Gomphrena this summer, I grew it with Cramer’s Amazon Celosia puncuated with Purple Majesty Salvia

what a blast to see so many Long tail Skippers using so many plants Gomphrena left and Celosia right. So many plantsand so many butterflies with so little work.

Monarch butterflies in my Cramers Celosia after the rain, just went outside and counted five, today is October 25, the best week of the year for Monarchs. Get outside.

a species of Spiral Ochid in my backyard from a trip to the Black Belt prairie region some years ago. Growing like a champ in my back yard gardens.

The long awned seed of Elliot’s Indian grass harvested from the garden today, seed originally collected from Washington Parish, Louisiana, from the Pine herbaceous understory vegetation there at LSU’s Lee Memorial Forest in Midway, Louisiana

Made the cut into the new Grasslands of the Southeast Biodiversity, Ecology, and Management book

A big thank you to Malcolm Vidrine, Charles Allen, Bruno Borsari, and Gail Barton for the pleasure of doing this written project with you. I couldn’t have done this without their assistance and persistence.

Here is Dr. Charles Allen and Stacey Huskins’ general map of the prairies of Louisiana which did not make it into the Chapter Dr. Allen wrote. I’ve been waiting for this book and especially this map for the six long years it took to finally see the book in print.

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2 thoughts on “Grassland gardens are Aster-nomical”

Marc, Congratulations on the growth of your prairies. I know it has been a long hard “slog”, but you have seen the fruit of your labors! I also wanted to know where I could get seed for the Eupatorium h? Also the Gaillardia is most unusual and beautiful! Keep up the good work. Mary Donahue